Surgical hand brush



March 27, 195 1 G, BAUMGARTNER 2,546,29

SURGICAL HAND BRUSH Filed May 9, 1947 IN V EN TOR.

Patented Mar. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SURGICAL HAND BRUSH J ohnfG. Baumgartner, sWego,.Ill. Application May 9,1947, Serial No. 747,004

2 Claims. l

Thisinvention relates generally to brushes and more particularly toil a surgical hand brush as used by a physician forv sterilizing his hands.

Itnhas` been common practice in hospitals-and doctors and dentists oiices to provide surgical hand brushes to be used by physician-s` or surv geons for sterili-zing `their handsas required fer professional practice. Such brushes havek generallyl included a wooden back in which the bristles are setiwhichl is of=` a size to be comfortably held in the hand of the user. VFor convenient handling of suchbrushesdispensers have been provided in which the brushesare placed and the dispenser and brushes are all: placed in the sterilizer wherethey are treated ata high temperature which maybe ofthe order of 360" FL The dispenserl is then taken out of the sterlizer and' hung on a wall' or placed on some suitable support where the brushes are readilyI available when it is desired to usevone for scrubbing the hands ofra physician or the like.

As stated above, such brushes have generally had backsv made of' wood', and it has been found that. after. the wood back brushes have been placed in the sterilizer a few times the backs go to pieces and the brush: must bey replaced by a new one. AAttempts have been made to iind a material for making the backs for these brushes which can be subjected to the' sterilizing temperature of 300 F. without being substantially affected, but these attempts have been unsuccessful. Although plastic materials have been suggested,v relative-1y few plastic materials are available which will'stand the'` 300 Fi sterilization temperature withouty softening and these.

materials.- are relatively' expensive. Further itis difficultV to mold aheavy or thick' back' forl a brush:A such as hasl been heretofore. provided asit is difficult to mold a member havingal thickness greater` than 1A. ofr an inch. Thesire4 of f the: back of; the: brush? is important; infthe present case, both in' orderl to provider' arbackiV which can be easilygripped in the.. hand; and: alsov because the dispensing: machinesfnow" used, have. a: release mechanism arranged to operate on the backs: of the;v brushes. 'l`herefore,A .toi permit use of these standard dispensing machines, thebrushes. must be provided with a backof substantiallyA the same shape as the.. brushes now used.

It is, therefore, an object' of the present inventiontov provide an improved surgical hand brush having ai back of such. size and'shape. to be easily gripped, by4 the hand vof theV user andv to dtl in standard dispensers.

Itisfa further" object of this: invention: `to- Drc.- f

2. vide an inexpensive surgical hand brush having a back made of material which is not harmed when subjected to high temperatures as required for sterilizing the brush.

A featureof this invention is the provision of a surgical hand brush having a light weight hollow handle of such size to be conveniently held in the hand of the user andv of the proper size te be handled by the standard dispensing machines.

A further feature of this invention is the provision of a surgical hand brush having a back portion molded of plastic materiali which is hollow so that the walls thereof arerelatively thin and can be easily molded and a relatively' small amount oi material is required.

A still further featureA of this invention is the provision of a surgical hand brush having a plastic back and bristles made of synthetic bers which will withstand temperatures of 300 F; and higher so that the brush can be sterilized without harmiu-lly affecting the same.

Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective. view of a surgical hand brush in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View along the lines 2 2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view along they lines 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentarycross-sectional view along the lines t-l of Fig. 3;' and Fig. 5 is a side View of a dispenser for surgical' brushes with a portion of the side broken away to: show` the manner in which the brushes are. held in the dispenser.

In practicing the invention there is provided a small hand brush having a back molded voi thermoplastic material' with bristles made of suitable.A material such as a synthetic nber secured thereto. The back isv of a rectangular channel-shaped configuration having a relatively thick4 bottom wall in which the bristies are set and top and side walls which are relatively thin, being thick enough to provide a. sturdy back for a brush. The top wall of the brush back is slightly longer than the bottom wallto provide extending corners adapted to be engaged by the holding mechanism inthe dispensingmachines. The side walls are provided with ribs to facilitate holding the backA oiv the brush-V in the handl ofAl Vthe user.

Referring now to the drawings, in Fig. l there is illustrated the surgical hand brush in accordance with the invention having a back l@ and bristle tufts Il including bristles made of synthetic ber or the like. The back is hollow and includes a bottom wall l2 in which the bristle tufts H are set, side walls I3 and a top wall ill. As is apparent from Fig. 3 the bottom wall is substantially thicker than the top and side walls this being necessary to provide a rm mounting for the bristle tufts. In a brush of standard size in which the over-all length is somewhat greater than four inches, the bottom wall may be substantially less than 1/4 of an inch thick so that the back can be easily molded from thermoplastic material. The back is molded from a thermoplastic material which is not deleteriously affected by temperatures of the order of 300 F. so that it will not be harmed when the brush is sterilized. Although thermoplastic materials having this characteristic are relatively expensive, only a small amount of material is required due to the hollow or channel-shaped conguration. As is apparent in Fig. 2, the top wall id extends on either end beyond the bottom wall l2 providing corners l for a purpose to be further explained. To facilitate holding the brush in the hand of the person using the same, ribs i5 are provided on the sides I3 which make it easier for the person using the brush to grip the brush securely in his fingers so that it will not be dropped while he is using it to scrub and sterilize his hands. Fig. 4 illustrates more in detail the configuration of the ribs I6.

As previously stated, surgical hand brushes must be sterilized before being used and to do this easily, dispensers are provided such as that shown in Fig. 5. The brushes are loaded in the dispenser and then the dispenser and brushes are places in a sterilizer in which the entire mechanism and brushes are sterilized. The dispenser may then be supported on a wall or other suitable support so that it is convenient for a person desiring to use a brush to obtain a brush therefrom. The brush is then used for applying liquid soap or other antiseptic for sterilizing the hands of a surgeon or other person engaged in the medical profession. Referring now more particularly to Fig. 5, the dispenser includes projecting portions li; at the top and bottom to facilitate mounting the dispenser on a wall. rIhe dispenser has a hinged side 2l (shown partly broken away) which is adapted to be opened to permit placing the brushes therein prior to being sterilized. The brushes are stacked one on top of the other in the dispenser with the back of the bottoni brush resting on rod 22 at one end and on a rotatable dropping mechanism 23 at the other end. The dropping mechanism is in the shape of a paddle wheel having a plurality of angularly spaced projections or paddles 29. For rotating the paddle wheel, an arm 24 is provided on the dispenser which includes an extension 25 arranged to operate the dropping mechanism. The extension 25 is connected through linkage 26 to a pawl 21 which engages a tooth wheel 28 supported on the same shaft as the dropping mechanism 23. A spring 3G is provided between the arm 24 and the projecting portion I9 to hold the arm 2li in a normal position. When it is desired to obtain a brush from the dispenser, the arm 24 is pushed against the spring and the movement thereof is transmitted to the ratchet mechanism causing the dropping mechanism to be turned in a counterclockwise direction so that the paddle 29a on the dropping mechanism moves downwardly releasing the corner l5 of the back I of the brush. This allows the bottom brush to drop out and the next brush to drop down to a position where the corners I5 thereof engage the rod 22 and the next paddle 29h of the dropping mechanism. This brush now is in a position to be dropped when the arm 24 is again operated.

The dispenser 2d is not a part of the present invention and is shown merely to point out the specific requirements which the back of a brush must meet in order for the brush to be suitable for use in such dispensers. It is apparent that the top of the brush l must be of sufficient length to be engaged by the rod 22 and the dropping mechanism 23 of the dispenser. By providing a top portion i4 slightly longer than the brush proper, corners I5 are provided which engage the rod and paddles and the likelihood of the brush jamming in the dispenser is considerably reduced. Further, it is apparent from Fig. 5 that the top surface of the brush back must be flat as the brushes are stacked in the dispenser on top of each other and each brush is supported on the bristles of the brush underneath it. In order to prevent deformation of the bristles of the brushes the weight of thebrushes must be uniformly distributed thereon and this requires that the top of the brush back be at so that the j weight of the brush is substantially uniformly distributed among the bristles of the brush below. This tends to prevent deformation and matting of the bristles which would render the brush unsatisfactory for use.

It is apparent that a brush having a-plastic back in accordance with the invention is much neater in appearance and much more easily cleaned than the prior wooden brushes. The hollow configuration provides a very light brush and one which is of suitable size to be easily gripped in the hand. By using a hollow back construction a relatively small amount of plastic material is required to provide a back which is sufliciently large both for convenient use and for handling in standard dispensing machines. A back of this conlguration is also much easier to mold than would be a solid back of adequate size to be held in the hand. The feature of the brush which is most material with respect to cost, however, is the ability of the brush to withstand the high temperatures used in sterilization without being deleteriously affected thereby. Both the plastic back and the synthetic liber bristles are substantially unaffected by temperatures of the order of 300 F. as used in sterilizing surgical brushes and other surgical instruments. Therefore, the life of the brush is many times more than that of a wooden brush so that the over-all cost is much less than that of present brushes having wood backs.

Although I have described one embodiment `of my invention it is apparent that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the intended scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A hand brush comprising a one-piece plastic back which is substantially oblong in outside configuration and having four relatively thin walls, with opposite walls thereof spaced apart from one another and providing therebetween a hollow bore open at each end and extending longitudinally of the long dimension of said back, bristles secured in one of said walls, two of the remaining said walls being integral with said 1 bristle-carrying wall and oppositely disposed from one another, and serving as hand holds for holding thebrush in the hand, andthe fourth o1' said walls spaced from said bristlecarrying Wall and integrali: with each of said Afait() hand-hold walls to complete the four-wallg-hollov-bore plastic back;v f

2. In a hand brush as defined in claim 1 Wherein the bristle-carrying wall is of, ,1esser length in the longitudinal long dimension of the brush back thansaid fourth of said walls to provide an angular oonguration for said? back at each of the open'ends of said hollow bore.'

JOHN G. BAUMGARTNER.

REFERENCES CITED l The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent: UNITED STATES PATENTS` Number Name Date 1,398,864 Kelly Nov. 29, 1921 1,847,668 Reh Mar. 1, 1932 2,097,461 Johnson NoY. 2, 1937 2,303,800 Swann Dec. 1, 1942 2,326,811 Wiggam Aug. 17, 1943 f FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country i Date 535,671 Great Britain Apr. 17,` 1941 

